Stories Should Have Something To Say

Stories Should Have Something To Say

I don't know whether you consider that this is controversial or not, but I think that stories should have something to say. Perhaps, I was brought up on fables and parables, but I don't believe that that could be the reason. It just seems to me that an author is wasting weeks or months of his or her life, if he or she doesn't really have anything to say.

Don't get me wrong, I have read a few books and watched dozens of films that had no point - except perhaps 'entertainment value' (whatever that is), but they don't, or never have, held my attention. I am also willing to admit that the 'point' of a story is not always immediately obvious. However, that can be, and often is, a good thing.

It' could be called mystery or suspense.

Not Preaching

No-one wants to pay for a sermon. Or, you know, not a high percentage of us.

It is perhaps one of the skills of a good writer to get his point across without making it blindingly obvious.

I don't even have to agree with the point being made by the writer, but I do have to be able to 'get to grips' with it within the story. It forces me to agree, or not, with the story, and that can affect how I would rate the book.

You may well ask why I have brought this matter up, and I will tell you. Now that I write myself, I often read fellow-writers' books (we are all unknowns), and all too often, I can't see the point - first, in their having written it, and second, of my having read it.

After all, both are a commitment of time, of which every individual has a limited amount per lifetime.

I can understand that someone has the urge to write, and it may be almost uncontrollable, and I can also understand that people have the urge to read and lose themselves in another world or environment (hence the success of the media in general), but why commit to a week or more of just words passing before one's eyes, as in reading a book?

I don't get it.

Sermons or pointless stories? Definitely not!

Stories with a point? A definite 'Yes!'

Otherwise, just what is the point?

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All the best,

Owen

Podcast: A Story Should Have Something To Say

iTunes - Apple Stocks Novels of Owen Jones

iTunes - Apple Stocks Novels of Owen Jones

There is good news for avid readers of Welsh writer from Barry, Owen Jones, that are also audiobook fans who prefer to use the ubiquitous  service of Apple's iTunes!

iTunes - Apple - now stocks not only the ebook novels of Owen Jones, but also the audiobook versions, AND, they are all on one page, which makes it easier to identify series and stand-alones.

Owen Jones now has more than three hundred ebooks on iTunes, a hundred and fifty of which are in languages other than English, and about seventy of them have been narrated by professionals to create audiobooks of excellent quality.

ACX - an arm of Amazon and Audible - has overseen production and Quality Control throughout, so you know that you are getting a great product.

Many Locations

Owen Jones writes in the general genre of Fiction>Psychological, often including references from Spiritualism, Buddhism, or even just 'traditional religions' - references such as intuition, dreams, Auras, Astral Travelling and the like. His books are also set in many locations, including Wales, naturally, Thailand, various countries in Europe, Russia and the USA. One series, Dead Centre visits seven countries in just one of the two volumes!

When asked about the new collection of his audiobooks on Apple iTunes, Owen said:

"I am very proud to have my audiobooks for sale on such a prestigious platform as Apple's iTunes. So many hundreds of millions of people around the world use an iPhone, iPad or Mac several times a day, and now they all have direct access to my audiobooks as well as my ebooks. I don't have one myself, but I checked some trivia just for my own information, and I was surprised to see that Apple uses 131 different URL's to allow direct access to its products. That probably means 131 different countries! Not bad for a local Barry boy, eh?"

You can find Owen Jones' audiobooks by following this link:

Audiobooks by Owen Jones on iTunes

Dragons in the Clouds

Dragons in the Clouds

by

David Blair

Review by Barry Boy

Dragons in the Clouds is a well-edited novel in the third person in the genre of historical fiction or fantasy and is aimed at young teenagers.

The story of Dragons in the Clouds is actually set in in two epochs and on two continents. The main characters in the present day setting of the United States are Ray Evans and his young daughter, Reilly; and at some unspecified time in the distant past, in the kingdom of Albion, we meet King Arturus, Merlinius, Sir Solomon, David and his pet baby dragon, Rago. It is difficult to say who or what is the main protagonist of them.

The story takes the form of Ray Evans recounting to his daughter a legend told to him by the elderly owner of a toy shop he met on his latest business tip to London. Mr Evans meets him when he goes in to purchase a toy dragon that he sees in the shop window.

The Kingdom of Albion

The main body of Dragons in the Clouds is set in the ancient Kingdom of Albion, which seems to be somewhere in Europe, but that is not explicit. The king of Albion, Arturus, is worried by public unrest caused by his people's fear of the dragons living in the land. In actual fact, there are two species of dragons: the carnivores and the herbivores. However, most people cannot distinguish between the two types and so fear them all.

In an attempt to garner favour and quell the unrest, Arturus sets his royal knights, led by Sir Solomon, the task of exterminating all the dragons in the country. Without wishing to give too much away, some people find this grossly unfair, and set about trying to save the harmless plant-eaters, which leads to all kinds of battles between humans and humans, dragons and dragons and even humans and dragons.

Thunder and Lightening

These exciting battles lead to the main theme of the Dragons in the Clouds, which is how thunder and lightening came into existence.

Although Dragons in the Clouds by David Blair is aimed at a readership much younger than myself, I enjoyed the story and am certain that ten-twelve years olds will love it's unique plot and story-line. If I have a criticism, it is a small, personal one: I prefer not to see famous names from history and mythology used in this way, as it could blur the original stories (as Disney often has).

The cover and the title are completely appropriate to the body of the story and I give Dragons in the Clouds by David Blair five out of five stars!

Our unique interview with author David Blair can be found here: David Blair

Podcast: Dragons in the Clouds

Dragons in the Clouds

Dragons in the Clouds

by

David Blair

Review by Barry Boy

Dragons in the Clouds is a well-edited novel in the third person in the genre of historical fiction or fantasy and is aimed at young teenagers.

The story of Dragons in the Clouds is actually set in in two epochs and on two continents. The main characters in the present day setting of the United States are Ray Evans and his young daughter, Reilly; and at some unspecified time in the distant past, in the kingdom of Albion, we meet King Arturus, Merlinius, Sir Solomon, David and his pet baby dragon, Rago. It is difficult to say who or what is the main protagonist of them.

The story takes the form of Ray Evans recounting to his daughter a legend told to him by the elderly owner of a toy shop he met on his latest business tip to London. Mr Evans meets him when he goes in to purchase a toy dragon that he sees in the shop window.

The Kingdom of Albion

The main body of Dragons in the Clouds is set in the ancient Kingdom of Albion, which seems to be somewhere in Europe, but that is not explicit. The king of Albion, Arturus, is worried by public unrest caused by his people's fear of the dragons living in the land. In actual fact, there are two species of dragons: the carnivores and the herbivores. However, most people cannot distinguish between the two types and so fear them all.

In an attempt to garner favour and quell the unrest, Arturus sets his royal knights, led by Sir Solomon, the task of exterminating all the dragons in the country. Without wishing to give too much away, some people find this grossly unfair, and set about trying to save the harmless plant-eaters, which leads to all kinds of battles between humans and humans, dragons and dragons and even humans and dragons.

Thunder and Lightening

These exciting battles lead to the main theme of the Dragons in the Clouds, which is how thunder and lightening came into existence.

Although Dragons in the Clouds by David Blair is aimed at a readership much younger than myself, I enjoyed the story and am certain that ten-twelve years olds will love it's unique plot and story-line. If I have a criticism, it is a small, personal one: I prefer not to see famous names from history and mythology used in this way, as it could blur the original stories (as Disney often has).

The cover and the title are completely appropriate to the body of the story and I give Dragons in the Clouds by David Blair five out of five stars!

Our unique interview with author David Blair can be found here: David Blair

Podcast: Dragons in the Clouds

David Blair - Author

David Blair

Today's unique author interview is with a very special American writer, Mr David Blair, so let's get started right away.

1 Name? David Blair

Website: www.dragonsintheclouds.com

2 Country of origin? United States

3 Do you prefer to read a particular genre? I like all genres

4 Do you write in the same genre? If not which one? I have written a fantasy, a western, and a contemporary crime drama

5 Have you always written and what got you started professionally? I got involved in story telling in the 8th grade. I wrote, directed and starred in a student film called ‘’Destination Destiny’’ I then picked up writing again in my early thirties. A movie producer friend of mine, challenged me to co-write a screenplay. And from that point on, I was hooked.

6 How many books have you published? One, ‘’Dragons in the Clouds’’ is my first published work. Although I do have other completed manuscripts waiting in the wings.

7 Which one would you like to tell us about? ‘’Dragons in the Clouds’’ of course.

8 Why did you write this book and what is it about? ‘’Dragons in the Clouds’’ first started out as a project for ‘’Puff the Magic Dragon’’ that beloved song recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary. I was having lunch with the hair stylist for Universal movie producer Kathleen Kennedy’s hair stylist. I mentioned that I was working on a story based on Puff, then about a month later I read in Variety - the industry magazine - that Kennedy had bought the rights to Puff. Needless to say, that taught me a lesson to keep my mouth shut.

‘’Dragons in the Clouds'' is a epic adventure that takes place in a time when Dragons were alive and freely roamed the land. The people during this time were getting eaten by a vicious specie of Dragon, the meat eaters. The ruling king of this period finally orders the total  annihilation of all living Dragons. A powerful wizard named Merlinius, does not agree with the Kings order, for he knows that all Dragons are not what they seem. For Merlinius is friends to a species of Dragons, the plant eaters. So to protect his Dragon friends, Merlinius grants a family of Dragons the spell of weightlessness and then tells them to fly up and to hide in the cover of the Clouds. And for them to only come down at night to feed.

An unforeseen  ability of the Dragons' weightless spell is that their fire now looks like that of lightning and their roar now sounds like thunder. An apprentice to the wizard who has grandeur of his own has meat eating Dragons hidden deep within a cave and he too, gives them the same spell of weightlessness. Now enters a widowed mother and her young son who also has befriended a dragon, though a very young one. They suddenly find themselves caught between the king's order and the battle that has begun between the two species of Dragons. A battle that will determine control of the skies above the Kingdom of Albion. The apprentice's plan has consequences that may bring the Kingdom and perhaps the very world we live in today to a devastating end.

9 Book cover and ISBN/ASIN:

Dragons in the Clouds

ISBN -13: 978-1-949809-17-6 ASIN - B07KCQ8173

10 What would you like your next book to be on? I have a contemporary crime drama I am excited to publish. Titled ‘’Meaner than the Devil”

11 If you could go anywhere in the universe, where would you go and why? The centre of the milky Way. I heard that is the centre or origin of the Universe. The Nebula would also be awesome to get a closer lo...

Amazon Blows It's Benevolent Image

Amazon Blows It's Benevolent Image

In my case, first it was Google that blew its benevolent image by dropping its company motto of 'Do no Evil!' and closing my affiliate account without explaining why, and now Amazon has done more or less exactly the same. In both circumstances, I literally woke up one morning to find that a factor of my income that I had put a long time into had been taken away.

Amazon sent me just one email stating that I had infringed some regulation, but that my affiliate account had been suspended. I tried to find out what I had done, but the reply was highly technical and written by lawyers. Something to do with 'pre-loading', whatever that is. If it is not using a link with an embedded affiliate link, then I have no idea what it is.

I asked, but Amazon has sent me to Coventry. All I know is that my practices haven't changed since I joined Amazon more than twenty years ago, so either they have changed their rules or they are very bad at catching criminals like me. From my point of view, the Amazon penalty has cost me about $2 per week, which is all I earned, on average, from the 12,000+ visitors I sent them every month.

I should have left them years ago, and I mean that, but I have other interests. The main problem is removing the Amazon affiliate links from the Smart URL links on my blog of 2,000 pages and the 4,000 Tweets that I have accumulated, so that another company can pick them up and use them in their own name. (#UPDATE: Skimlinks and Viglinks can do this)

It means that I will lose a percentage of my $2 income, but, hey, I can live with that :-).

So, why did Amazon do that to me?

I honestly really have no idea, in exactly the same way that I didn't know what Google was taking about. I am just a hard-working, one-man band. I don't try to game any systems. Would you for $2 a month?

I reckon that Google and Amazon just wanted to reduce the cost of paying out to millions of affiliates by picking on them. I mean, if people want to buy from those companies, and many, many do, then they don't have to go through me, do they? Amazon, Google and the retailer will still get paid, and the customer will still be happy whether a small man lije me is in the loop trying to earn a commission or not, won't they?

It will mean that Amazon will have to write fewer, but larger cheques, which will save on bank charges... and I think that that is what this is all about - money, and keeping it among the already-wealthy.

The rest of us can go and whistle for it.

Please LIKE and SHARE this article using the buttons below and visit our bookshop

All the best,

Owen

Podcast: Amazon Blows It's Benevolent Image

Vegetarianism

Dietary Deficiencies

We went for blood tests the other week. 'Bloods' as those in the profession seem to call them. It's funny that such educated people would choose such an ungrammatical word. Anyway, we couldn't make an appointment at the hospital, so it was a question of pulling a ticket and waiting forty minutes.

The nurse took two phials of blood from each of us, which was painless and quick. I had to see the doctor the same day on a different matter, and she said that the results would be with us in a matter of days. It took eight, but, hey, that's OK.

We received our results today, and I was really surprised by how much information they seemed to have gleaned from that small amount of blood. Luckily, there was nothing serious wrong with us, but my wife was warned of a slight iron deficiency, and I of one of Vitamin D.

Dietary Deficiencies

So, a brief check on the Internet revealed that I should eat more oranges, cereals, oily fish, beef liver and egg yolks, and my wife should eat more green vegetables, red meat, liver, nuts, lentils, beans and brown rice.

I should also spend more time in the sun.

Now, that is all well and good, but my wife has been telling me for months that our diet has been deficient in precisely these areas since we left Spain twelve months ago, AND she has been telling me to get out from behind my desk and get some fresh air - every day, in fact :-( !

All the things that we are missing were commonplace to us until we moved back to the UK. Spain and Thailand are synonymous with sun, more vegetables and less stodge like potatoes, pastry and flour-rich gravy.

Different Diets

Thai women know about diet and dietary deficiencies. They have a different way of looking at food. To them, food is medicine and not just a gut-filler or something 'to keep you going'. I'm British and still love my bread, chocolate, chips, and pies etc, but my wife would choose raw vegetables and fruit over those every time.

She is ashamed of herself that she has let this happen to us, although I don't think that it's only her responsibility. She does though.

She's taking over care of our diet from now on, like she has done for the last fourteen years, until we arrived here.

Do you know whether your diet provides all your body's needs?

Please LIKE and SHARE this article using the buttons below and visit our bookshop

All the best,

Owen

Podcast: Dietary Deficiencies

Free Audiobooks

Free Audiobooks For My Friends!

I am giving away some of my most popular audiobooks completely free of charge on a first come, first served basis. So, yes! Free audiobooks!

However, all I ask is that you leave a short review in the language of the book when you've finished it. You can place it preferably on Audible or Amazon, but otherwise on iTunes or GooglePlay.

Languages currently available are: English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.

** TIP: If you are learning one of these languages, you will probably find it useful to listen to a book in that language and even compare it to the version in your own language.

I hope you enjoy them in whichever way you can.

If in the UK, please select a UK code and go to:

http://audible.co.uk/acx-promo

If you are anywhere else, please select a US code and go to:

https://audible.com/acx-promo

and then enter the free code for the book you would like to listen to. If it has already gone, please try another. Please note, the books for the UK market are marked with 'UK', but that is NOT part of the code, so please don't enter it into the box.

By the way, these are not abridged versions or pirated copies, they are as sold on Amazon, Audible and iTunes for up to $30 each.

New codes added 9/2/20

In English:

CGR8M3KD6FPJF (Daddy's Hobby: Behind The Smile - The Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya (Volume 1)) UK

BAYZSZU2LHYUS (Daddy's Hobby: Behind The Smile - The Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya (Volume 1)) US

4YUFLUNYJ66ZH (Tiger Lily of Bangkok) UK

34PDYP6ZAKWP4 (Tiger Lily of Bangkok) US

7SU6GYQTZULSP (The Disallowed) UK

629SXYB86TQ44 (The Disallowed) US

FYHWX8UCD96Y4 (The Ghouls of Calle Goya) UK

4678HQBCNNDY3 (The Ghouls of Calle Goya) US

G6WMERYL2MHKG (The Misconception) UK

4AN8YYPA6KB2R (The Misconception) US

A7F6HA9LE8UE3 (Authorship) UK

6K58B49TZ3Y9P (Authorship) US

6NTMFREWNTUDN (A Night in Annwn) UK

8BDY2DQAEH5PY (A Night in Annwn) US

8QB53P4ZKET45 (The Alien House) UK

8PLC848DRKRHY (The Alien House) US

GMBY9JPZ7BNDB (Andropov's Cuckoo) UK

8CLTND66ZKDMX (Andropov's Cuckoo) US

E5GDPYHGH7UFQ (Fate Twister) UK

9B8HJU44TK6PN (Fate Twister) US

3BHZKU84DAPPS (Daisy's Chain) UK

8BY3DHBRF8AFX (Daisy's Chain) US

3J493P79YZGJU (Fate Twister) UK

34FAQJJY75D6S (Fate Twister) US

22YELYUUUYGKU (Daisy's Chain) UK

2EN8RSSSX4JNU (Daisy's Chain) US

5QRXUQ7PSF2AW (How to Give Your Dog a Real Dog’s Life) UK

8XZJCLA6QHQC4 (How to Give Your Dog a Real Dog’s Life) US

EMTCZU7AY42H7 (The Eternal Plan – Revealed) UK

L6GWG6DYH365Q (The Eternal Plan – Revealed) US

In French:

859N7RSU9HFWX (Tigresse Lily de Bangkok)

98XQ5Z37SRCG2 (Tigresse Lily de Bangkok)

In German:

6L76KJ5ALUC3U (Tiger Lily von Bangkok) UK

3E7AUAND39PAN (Tiger Lily von Bangkok)

4W66JQYQ3KPHZ (Tiger Lily von Bangkok)

76JX73FF6J5JF (Asiatische Kurzgeschichten) UK

2F44X9QJU5LW2 (Asiatische Kurzgeschichten)

Daddys Hobby - Hinter ihrem Lächeln

Daddy's Hobby - Hinter ihrem Lächeln

Die Geschichte von Lek, einem Barmädchen in Pattaya

von

Owen Jones

Übersetzt von

Patricia Stroleny

Lek ist als Älteste von vier Geschwistern in eine typische Familie von Reisbauern hineingeboren worden. Sie hatte nie erwartet, dass sich ihr Leben anders entwickeln würde als das ihrer Klassenkameradinnen in ihrem Dorf im Norden Thailands. Normalerwise hätte dies bedeutet, ein paar Jahre lang auf dem Feld zu arbeiten, ein paar Kinder zu bekommen, sie dann zu ihrer Mutter zu geben, um weiter auf dem Feld zu arbeiten, bis ihre Kinder eines Tages selbst Kinder bekommen würden und sie an der Reihe wäre, auf diese aufzupassen. Eines Tages passierte jedoch aus heiterem Himmel eine Katastrophe: Ihr Vater starb jung und hinterließ einen Schuldenberg, von dem seine Familie bis dahin nichts gewusst hatte. Lek war zu der Zeit zwanzig Jahre alt und die Einzige in ihrer Familie, die eine Zwangsvollstreckung abwenden konnte. Jedoch war ihre einzige Option, nach Pattaya zu gehen, um dort in der Bar ihrer Cousine zu arbeiten. Sie fing als Kellnerin an und merkte bald, dass sie von ihrem Ehemann, mit dem sie sich zu der Zeit schon längst auseinandergelebt hatte, schwanger war. Nun musste sich einiges ändern. Sie bekam ihre Tochter, ließ sie bei ihrer Mutter, um auf sie aufzupassen und kehrte  nach Pattaya zurück, um weiter zu arbeiten. Nun musste sie mehr Geld verdienen, um ihrer Tochter ein gutes Leben zu ermöglichen und die Tatsache, dass sie fast 1000 Kilometer trennten, wiedergutzumachen. So driftete sie in die Sexindustrie ab.

In diesem Buch geht es um ihre Abenteuer, ihre Träume und Alpträume, sowie ihren Modus Operandi. Es soll aus Leks Sicht erzählen, wie es wirklich ist, ein Barmädchen in Thailand zu sein - mit allen Hoffnungen und Enttäuschungen, die damit einhergehen und zum Alltag gehören.

Eines Tages lernt sie einen Mann kennen, den sie wirklich mag und der ihre Gefühle erwiedert. Das allein ist nichts Neues, es ist ihr schon viele Male zuvor passiert, doch diesmal fühlt es sich anders an als sonst. Sie verbringen vier wundervolle Wochen zusammen, doch dann muss er zurück in seine Heimat - und wie so viele Männer vor ihm hinterlässt er eine Menge Versprechen und Hoffnungen. Und er kommt zurück. Aber das wirkliche Leben mit einem wirklichen Partner ist nicht so einfach, wie Lek es sich erträumt hatte. Sie machen gute und shclechte Zeiten zusammen durch, aber werden sie zusammenbleiben und wenn ja, wie lange? Wird sie nach allem, was sie durchgemacht hat, überhaupt in der Lage sein, wieder eine ganz normale Feundin und Ehefrau zu sein? Wird sie wieder in der Lage sein, einem Mann wirklich zu vertrauen? Oder wäre es das Beste, ihre Träume übe Bord zu werfen und einfach weiter in der Bar zu arbeiten? Lek lernt nach und nach, dass zu bekommen, was man sich gewünscht hat, nicht immer so ist, wie man es sich vorgestellt hatte.

Der Titel "Hinter ihrem Lächeln" bezieht sich darauf, dass Thailand auf der ganzen Welt als das Land des Lächelns bekannt ist.

Amazon   Apple iTunes   Barnes & Noble   Kobo   Scribd

SocialJukebox - The Professional Tweet Rotator

SocialJukebox - The Professional Tweet Rotator

SpcialJukebox was recommended to me by a good friend, who is in the same profession as I am. We are both prolific writers, with other business interests, who have a lot of people we want to keep in touch with and a lot of niches that must be kept separate and distinct.

For example, I have readers, with whom I like to keep in touch; likewise with fellow writers. Then there are beginner-authors, whom I help, and authors whose books I promote, etc, etc.

SocialJukebox allows me to separate all these niches out and also allows me to use up to three Twitter accounts. Having several Twitter accounts is a definite advantage, but that is outside the scope of this article.

Basically, there are two types of SocialJukebox: the free, or trial account and the paid-for or professional) one. The free account is actually permanently free, but it is severely hamstrung, whereas there are three levels of pro account.

I use the cheapest of those and pay annually, which saves me a certain percentage of the monthly fee. It stores up to 5,000 Tweets and allows their usage over three Twitter accounts.

I found SocialJukebox very easy to set up and maintain, although Twitter has been gradually interfering more and more, imposing more and more rules on companies that provide automated Twitter services.

However, that is also comforting, in a way, because it means you know that you are not jeopardising your Twitter accounts, because ScialJukebox is operating with their consent and within their rules.

In my regimen, I send out personal and promotional Tweets every day, but, as you know, sometimes things crop up unexpectedly and I cannot spend much time at my desk. In these circumstances, SocialJukebox continues to post my routine Tweets plus any that I have pre-programmed to go out on a certain day.

I find that SocialJukebox saves me time and ensures that essential, routine tasks are performed even when I don't have time to do it myself. Not only that, but SocialJukebox is never down - it is working every minute of every day.

It seems like the CEO of SocialJukebox is too, because Tim is always there to answer questions be they complicated or simple. Not only that, but he is full of advice on how to use Twitter and SocialJukebox to their fullest potential. He also provides personal heads-up when Twitter changes its rules to help you avoid losing your account.

Try it using the link below, you won't regret it, I guarantee you:

 

SocialJukebox - free trial

Please LIKE and SHARE this article using the buttons below and visit our bookshop

All the best,

Owen

Podcast: SocialJukebox - The Professional Tweet Rotator